A man walks past a giant billboard featuring portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, in Jerusalem on November 25, 2023. — AFP File
Mediators seeking a Gaza ceasefire are set to propose a truce of under a month to Palestinian militants Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks said on Wednesday. The discussions in Doha, which concluded on Monday, included Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA director Bill Burns, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. They focused on a 'short-term' truce of 'less than a month', the source said. The proposal involves exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and increasing aid to Gaza, the source added.
'US officials believe that if a short-term deal can be reached, it could lead to a more permanent agreement,' the source said. The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been engaged in months of fruitless negotiations for a truce with hostage and prisoner releases. To break the deadlock near the end of US President Joe Biden's administration, Washington and Doha last week announced fresh in-person talks to explore new options.
The Doha talks aimed to secure a swift outcome that could boost Biden's legacy despite his administration's waning influence with the November 5 US election looming. The comments follow an Egyptian proposal for a two-day truce and limited hostage-prisoner exchange that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said could lead to a permanent ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said he had not received the Egyptian proposal but he would 'have accepted it immediately' if it was raised.
This month's killing of Hamas's leader Yahya Sinwar spurred hope that fresh life could be breathed into the truce talks. In-person talks in August in Egypt and Qatar, based on an adjustment to an initial truce plan presented by Biden in May, broke up without a final agreement. That plan had sought to freeze fighting for an initial six weeks while Israeli hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, and while
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